Jersey City's Sales Effort Lands $1B for Downtown

Econ. Dev. Corp. Secures City's Boom Times

Originally appeared in Tri-State Real Estate Journal, May
6, 1999

By Michael Barbella
Northern New Jersey Correspondent Stuart Z. Koperweis doesn't open the windows to his office much anymore.

Koperweis's eighth-floor office overlooks part of the Jersey City waterfront,
which is bustling with construction activity. The constant drone of cranes,
jackhammers and drills can often be overpowering.

"Sometimes, I can't open my windows because the sound of construction is
so loud," said Koperweis, president of the Jersey City Economic Development
Corporation.

It has been, loud for quite some time now. New Jersey's second largest city
is experiencing a reconstruction that is turning the once decaying urban center
into a thriving metropolis that rivals Manhattan. More than $1 billion in
private sector investment is expected to pour into Jersey City over the next two
years, as developers transform vacant rail yards and old warehouses into the
office towers and retail malls of the 2st century.

Development is exploding along the city's waterfront. Construction has begun
on several skyscrapers that will provide the city with millions of square feet
of much-needed office space. There also are plans to build hotelsm retail
centers and condominiums along the waterfront.

"We've coined the phrase Holistic Urban Building or HUB," Koperweis
said. "We are trying to rebuild the city." The Jersey City Economic
Development Corporation has been instrumental in helping to rebuild the city.
Over the last several years, the 19-year-old agency successfully has bridged the
gap between the public and private, sectors by becoming a "clearinghouse of
information" for companies considering, relocating, Koperweiss said. It
also initiated a savvy marketing campaign that has, shown the rest of the world
what Jersey City has to offer.

The corporation has grown from a $1.3 million agency in 1994 to an $11.1
million organization today. During that same time period, the number of
employees has increased by three.

"The [economic development] corpora- tion in the past was not fulfilling
its mission," Koperweis explained. "A lot of people would call, but
they wouldn't know who to go to. Who would get the demo- graphic information?
Who would get out information about the loan program's? Who was going to help
lure companies to the city? There was no one. We recognized that there was a
tremendous need to get information to people."

There also was a tremendous need- for the city to market itself. When
Koperweis joined the agency in October 1994, he immediately launched an
aggressive advertising and marketing- campaign to tout the virtues of Jersey
City. It was not a difficult task - Koperweis already had a great product; all
he had to do was sell it.

"I classify my background as marketing, economic development and
sales," Koperweis said. "When I first came onboard, I realized we had
a great product here - the city - but we had no tools to market that
product."

That changed within a year. The corporation commissioned an artist to create
a Jersey City "center of the universe" poster similar to the famous
New Yorker sketch. The agency had a copy of the poster reduced and printed on
folders that are now filled with information and sent to businesses thinking of
relocating to the city.

"The [information] packets allow people to become familiar with Jersey
City," Koperweis said. "It helps them get comfortable with the city
and saves them the hassle of having to go through a jumble of phone calls to get
their questions answered. This is a service organization and the service we are
selling is the city.

The agency welcomes businesses into the city by offering to put together a
relocation package tailored to their specific, needs. It also has a small
businesses loan program.

Several years ago, the agency created a blockfront program, which has enabled
the city to refurbish entire blocks and create a more comfortable atmosphere for
those who live and work there.

"We renovate storefronts to bring them back to the way they were in the
1920s and 1930s," Koperweis explained. "We want to create a more
friendly atmosphere For people to walk around."

Some of that friendly atmosphere can be seen in an 11-minute video Koperweis
produced which features a brief interview with New
York Daily, News publisher Mort Zuckerman. In the video, Zuckerman discusses
his satisfaction with opening a printing plant in Jersey City's Urban Enterprise
Zone in 1996.

"I would say if we are happy here, it would be a flagship for many other
companies in the area to consider locating in Jersey City," Zuckerman says
in the video.

Besides the video, officials devised a new slogan for the city and put it on
signs. The phrase "America's Golden Door" is written on the bottom of
the sign, below a rendering of the Statue of Liberty. The city's name is written
over the Statue of Liberty, in gold letters.

Koperweis said the city is still a golden door to opportunity today, but in a
different way. Corporation officials call Jersey City "Wall Street
West" and "Silicon Valley East," as scores of Wall Street firms
move their facilities across the Hudson River and high-tech communications firms
cross the continent to take advantage of the, area's fiber-optic cable network.

Although the corporation has worked hard to sell the city to outside
investors, Koperweis credits Mayor Bret
Schundler - the first Republican elected in seven decades - with giving the
agency a decent product to sell. "He [Schundler] recognized that he had to
come forward and put the city in a good light," Koperweis said.

"Without a strong, stable political environment, you would not have the
interest you have today in Jersey City," Koperweis said.

Thomas D. Ahern, executive director of the agency, believes the city's Urban
Enterprise Zone program is partly responsible for the heightened interest. The
sales tax collected from zone businesses has allowed the corporation to renovate
blockfronts and fund other redevelopment projects.

"The money is put into a UEZ assistance fund. That funding source has
assisted this corporation a great deal," Ahern said. "That [money] has
allowed us to do a great deal of marketing."

Nearly 18,800 jobs were created or maintained among the city's Urban
Enterprise Zone-certified businesses between 1993 and 1997.